#1 THE FERHADIJA MOSQUE IN BANJA LUKA
Posted: 21/02/2005 22:21
[/b]“Banja Luka has been referred to as the heart of darkness and the worst place in Bosnia in terms of human rights abuses, by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees”
Dian Paul Author of Human Rights Watch Report on ethnic cleansing in Banja Luka, at the Commission on security and Cooperation in Europe, Washington DC. June 1999
“Banja Luka was the darkest of places in the darkest of worlds. To be a Muslim or Croat in Banja Luka in 1992 was as frightening as being a Jew in Berlin in 1942.”
Peter Maass: LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR – A Story of War.
(Publisher Papermack.. Chapter 3)
“The way is long and hard, that out of hell leads to light.”
PARADISE LOST
THE FERHADIJA MOSQUE IN BANKA LUKA
INTRODUCTION
On September 27 a critical meeting was held between The Soul of Europe and Dr Mustafa Ceric, the Reis ul Ulema (head of the Islamic Community in Bosnia).
He invited The Soul of Europe to participate in the rebuilding of the Ferhadija Mosque, one of the great Muslim monuments in Bosnia, the once most significant landmark in the city of Banja Luka.
He suggested that the rebuilding of the Mosque should be an international European project. If successfully achieved, the rebuilding of this great Mosque would send a signal to Muslims not only in the Balkans but all over the Europe that they now could consider themselves as a truly welcome part of the family of Europe.
Dr Ceric said that were the Mosque to be rebuilt it would be “something more” than a place of worship. It is this “something more” which is of particular interest to the Soul of Europe.
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FERHADIJA MOSQUE
At 3.00am on May 7 1993 the people of Banja Luka were woken by the sound of two large explosions. Several thousand pounds of dynamite had been detonated under the Ferhadija Mosque, built in 1583, and its sister mosque, the Arnaudija Mosque built in 1587.
After the explosions, Muslim leaders asked the authorities for permission to preserve the debris. They were told that this was not possible and ordered the debris to be trucked away to a secret site.
At one time Banja Luka had 40 mosques. At the start of the war there were sixteen. By the end of the war, all 16 had been carefully and systematically destroyed.
The aim of ethnic cleansing of the Muslim population in Banja Luka was not just to remove them, but to eliminate every trace of them as if they had never existed. Before the war Muslims constituted over 40% of the population in the town. Once they had been removed, the past could be reinvented.
The Ferhadija Mosque was the centre around which the town of Banja Luka grew. The different ethnic groups including Catholics, Orthodox and before 1941 a prosperous Jewish community shared the town, which was predominantly Muslim. Muslims, Serbs and Croats alike respected the Mosque, which had become a national treasure, a monument of great beauty and distinction which is on the list of UNESCO’s protected buildings. (UNESCO had funded a restoration of the Mosque including new carpets for the floor of the Mosque only days before its destruction.)
Peter Maass, author of LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR – A Story of War, covered the Bosnian War for the Washington Post. His account is unsparing and unremitting in its description of the brutality he witnessed. But when he writes about Ferhadija, his tone changes:
“The Mosque was modest in design, perhaps a fifth of the size of Notre Dame Cathedral built neither to awe nor to dominate but to impress and endure. It aged over the centuries with a waterfall’s grace, staying in place while the surrounding landscape was reshaped by man and nature. You can literally feel the magic of such a building when you press a hand against one of its ancient stones…”
The many travellers through Banja Luka from the sixteenth century onwards write in this lyrical way about the Ferhadija Mosque, at the entrance to which were inscribed the words saying: ‘All God’s faithful people are welcome here.’
Alexander Ravlic, a Serb, who has since had to move to Croatia, describes the reaction of the people of Banja Luka to the destruction:
“When the curfew was over we started to gather round the destroyed places of worship. We were not able to believe that the Greater Serbia authorities could find the courage for committing such a crime. We were stunned. Our tears reflected the grief and anguish, tears not only shed by disinherited non-Serbs but also by numerous Serbs – all genuine citizens of Banja Luka.”
Alexander Ravlic FERHADIJA : A Photographic Record.
ETHNIC CLEANSING OF MUSLIMS AND CROATS
Before the war, the population of Banja Luka and the surrounding area was about 195,000. Muslims made up over 40%, the rest being equally divided between Serbs and Croats. The Serbs did not wish to destroy the city. In stead they adopted a simpler solution: to squeeze the others out slowly, like dishwater from a towel.
The truth about Banja Luka is only slowly emerging. We are hearing how hundreds of elderly people were murdered in their own homes; how men hid in the woods in the dead of winter to escape being press ganged; how mothers and their children were evicted from their homes, how humiliated university professors were forced to sweep the streets, how nuns and priests ‘disappeared’ and how the leaders of decimated communities were imprisoned.
As well as the kidnapping, beating, torture, rape and murder, an efficient bureaucracy was established to ‘help’ people leave. Many Muslims and Croats had been fired from their jobs, denied medical care, intimidated and harassed. Legally owned businesses and properties were confiscated.
Those who then wanted to leave had to pay for the privilege of doing so. A report describes how; ‘you had to visit the offices of the telephone company, electric board and the bank to certify that you owed them nothing. You were given a receipt to show that you would be allowed to be “ethnically cleansed”. The housing authorities require you to certify that you did not own any property. You signed all your rights away to be permitted to leave..’
In October 1995 Special Forces under Arkan (The war lord from Belgrade) were called in by the Serb authorities. 2000 men were separated from their families and sent to camps. Many died.
TODAY
The appearance of normality readily induces amnesia; Banja Luka on a June evening, when we first visited, looked like many a sleepy provincial Eastern European town. We noticed the tree lined avenues, a busy café life, crowded restaurants overlooking the River Vrbas and young people, mostly students, lounging around the university campus. There is a shiny new Orthodox Cathedral, commercial life flourishes, new banks are opening and car hire firms are advertising. Life carries on as though nothing had happened and everything was normal.
When we met the Mufti of Banja Luka that same June, he told us that the authorities were forbidding him to rebuild the Mosque because ‘it would be considered provocative’
Since then the situation has changed somewhat. The US Ambassador, Thomas Miller, has stated on several that the Mosque should be rebuilt. He is a respected public figure in Bosnia. The High Representative’s office (head of the UN presence in Bosnia) has also said it should be rebuilt. Bishop Nikolaj, the Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church in Bosnia (who we met in Sarajevo) has publicly changed his mind and said that the Mosque should be rebuilt. There have also been more hopeful public statements from the local authority in Banja Luka. The project does not depend on a precise date for the start of the rebuilding.
Meanwhile only a trickle of Muslims and Croats have returned home – in spite of Dayton, appeals by European public figures and political leaders. The ‘return’ has just not happened.
Moreover those who carried out the torture and killings, and those who administered the system of terror are still at large, many still in positions of authority.
THE SOUL OF EUROPE – OUR PARTICIPATION
1 We will need to work out the extent and nature of our partnership with Dr Ceric, Mufti Camdzic of Banja Luka and the Muslim community in Bosnia.
2 Dr Ceric has asked The Soul of Europe to provide a list of those who might be patrons of this project – international and multi-faith. I have already done so, proposing that Mary Robinson, the former President of Ireland, should be ‘chief patron’
Dr Ceric told us that he believed there should be in addition, three committees; one to consider the rebuilding from an architectural point of view, another to raise the funds and another to act as a liaison with the local community. I believe that Dr Ceric will seek our counsel on the membership and precise functions of these groups.
3 We will need to undertake a ‘profile’ of Banja Luka to:
a) Discover what that ‘something more’ should be: a Centre for Human Rights, a Multi Faith resource for young people, a partnership development on the lines we are undertaking in Bihac, a cultural centre – whatever it is the community of Banja Luka might want in addition to the rebuilt Mosque.
b) Identify our allies in this project – I have already names of lawyers, politicians, woman’s groups, etc…
4 Having worked out what our partnership will be and completed the profile, it will then be possible to work on the next stop of the project.
CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT
Given the unique character of this project it will be essential not just to write it up as it progresses (this will happen anyway) but to employ assessors who will keep en eye on its development.
There are many difficulties – cultural for example: a Western Christian based organisation working closely with the Muftis. We could be seen to be patronising. We could also be left establishing the whole project, given Banja Luka’s recent history.
We will need advice on how ‘European’ the project should be. Does The Soul of Europe involve, say, Coventry Cathedral in its network of reconciling ministries, or the Swedish Christian Council (with which I have links) or other bodies?
We will need to decide how and in what depth The Soul of Europe is involved. There could come a time when we withdraw or become much more closely involved. Professor Adrian Hastings has kindly offered to help.
PROCESS
What is central to the success of this project is the process: the building up of trust between The Soul of Europe and the many interested parties and also between all those concerned. This will take time. I shall initially undertake the profile and building up the partnership with Dr Ceric and whoever else emerges. We shall continue to use Adnar Jabucar to arrange and coordinate meetings, but it is possible that within nine months, funds will be required to appoint a full time person to coodinate and direct the project, funds which should come from both Muslim, Christian and secular sources.
A NOTE ON ISLAM IN BOSNIA
Bosnian Muslims are among the most secularised Muslim population in the world. Years of secular education under a communist political culture and the ever increasing Westernisation of Bosnian society have contributed to this state of affairs.
The best way to understand the Muslims in Bosnia is to think of the Jewish population in America. Jews in America call themselves American first, perhaps New Yorkers second and Jews third, if at all…
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